I’m happy to welcome Canadian author Don Butler. Today, Don shares his creative journey and new release, Norman’s Conquest.

Here’s Don!

When I was a lad, I always imagined that someday, I’d be a novelist. Teachers regularly asked me to read my youthful compositions aloud, presumably to inspire – or amuse – classmates with my comedic touches.

To refine my skills, I enrolled in journalism school at university. Then a funny thing happened. I got sidetracked into newspapers for several decades. It paid the bills, and I enjoyed the work. But I never forgot my boyish ambition.

Several years ago, I drafted my first novel, A Life of Bliss. I submitted it to a list of publishers in Canada and waited for their offers to roll in. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. But one of Canada’s smaller publishing houses advised that they’d had three people read my manuscript before deciding to take a pass.

I was encouraged by this. When I finally left a successful journalism career, I got serious about getting A Life of Bliss published. I did some polishing and rewriting and approached a regional publisher, Ottawa Press and Publishing, in March of 2020. You may remember that something else was happening then: the Covid-19 pandemic. OPP’s owner, author Ron Corbett, liked my book but said my timing sucked. He suggested I try again in six months.

When I did, he agreed to publish my novel as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback on Amazon. A humble beginning, but I was over the moon. When the book came out in 2021, it got a positive review in newspapers across Canada and was featured on CBC. It was far from a bestseller, but sales were brisk enough that OPP upgraded it to a full print run in 2022.

After that, I began my second novel, a murder mystery called Norman’s Conquest, featuring some of the same odd but lovable characters from my début. OPP published the paperback version in May. Reader reviews have been strong and sales at store signings have far exceeded expectations.

There’s no denying it: I’m now a novelist. One acquaintance insists on addressing me as “Famous Author Don Butler.” That’s a kind exaggeration, but I like it. I’m just starting to think about book three. A trilogy – or maybe more – sounds good.

Blurb – Norman’s Conquest

After narrowly surviving a heart attack in Greece, Norman Pugsley, the grizzled managing editor of the Ottawa Daily Advocate, anticipates a quiet retirement. But fate has other plans as he becomes entangled in a decades-old murder mystery. As he delves deeper into the investigation, sparks fly with his former boss, a woman he once couldn’t stand.

In this witty and heartfelt follow-up to Don Butler’s well-received début novel, A Life of Bliss, readers are whisked into a world of eccentric journalists, travel adventures, and a protagonist who unexpectedly discovers his inner feminist. The tale unfolds against the backdrop of unlikely romance and unforgettable encounters—from a spirit bear to a former prime minister. Join Norman Pugsley’s journey, where the past collides with the present, and every twist and turn brings him closer to solving the murder.

Excerpt

Reporter Norman Pugsley tossed the City section of the Advocate aside, rose from his chair and strode purposefully across the newsroom to city editor Morgan J. Peck’s office. He didn’t have a lot of time for Peck, who’d come to the Advocate after failing his probation at the Globe and Mail, a fact Peck had neglected to mention when he applied to the Advocate. The Ottawa newspaper’s editors, giddy at snagging a recruit from the prestigious Toronto newspaper, hadn’t bothered to ask for references.

“Got a minute, Morgan J.?” Pugsley began. Peck preferred to be known by his full name, including middle initial. Privately, though, female journalists at the paper called him Morgan the Muppet while their male colleagues favoured Little Pecker.

Peck glanced up from the story he was editing. “What’s up, Norm?”

“I was just reading our latest story about the Birchmount homicide,” Pugsley began.

“Awful case,” Peck said, shaking his head.

“Yes, it is. Body found in a woodlot in the Greenbelt. It’s been more than a month, and the cops don’t seem to have the first clue who did it.”

“So it appears.”

Pugsley frowned. “I know she was a whore, and most people don’t give a damn when bad things happen to them. But Jesus, Morgan J., she was 19 years old! She had her whole life ahead of her. She turned to prostitution because her so-called father was abusing her. And now she’s dead. Strangled and dumped in the bush like garbage by some sick psychopath.”

“A sad story,” Peck agreed.

Pugsley drew several slow, measured breaths. “When Jenny started selling her body, she was about the same age as my daughter Barbara is now,” he said. “I can’t help thinking how I’d feel if something like this happened to her.”

Morgan J. Peck waited patiently for Pugsley to get to the point. He hadn’t yet developed any chemistry with Pugsley. Found him to be an irritating know-it-all, truth be told. But he’d learned that Pugsley liked to talk things through before committing to a course of action.

“Her death feels personal to me,” Pugsley continued. “I’d like to get involved in the story. I still have great contacts from my days on the police beat. And I’m our investigative reporter now. This story could use some investigation. I have the skills to do that.”

Buy Links

Amazon CA | Amazon US | Indigo

Bio

Don Butler spent his career at the Ottawa Citizen, including six years as the newspaper’s executive editor. He’s the author of two novels: A Life of Bliss (2021) and Norman’s Conquest (2024), both featuring some of the same journalist characters. He’s married to journalist Christina Spencer and has two grown children and two grandchildren. He lives in Canada’s capital, Ottawa.

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Photo Caption: Author Don Butler hosts a book launch for his latest novel, “Norman’s Conquest” at Perfect Books on Elgin Street in Ottawa on June 3, 2024. Photo by Wayne Cuddington, cuddingtonphoto@gmail.com

I’m happy to welcome author Kate Ellington. Today, Kate shares her new release, The Secret Cottage.

Blurb

Isabel Tate yearns for the simple pleasures she took for granted before scandal rocked her family two years ago. On May Day, she’s determined to forget her troubles and enjoy herself at the Claremont family’s annual festival.

Meanwhile, Robert Claremont steels himself to begin courting the haughty heiress next door, but his bashfulness is only one obstacle to winning her hand. Despite a deep sense of family obligation, he dreams of choosing his own bride.

Captivated by each other from the moment they meet, Robert and Isabel are kept apart by a misunderstanding until a chance encounter leads to friendship and more.

With opposition on all sides, they must overcome inconceivable odds to claim happiness.

Excerpt

Isabel turned her horse into the woods, directing him to a gurgling stream under a canopy of trees. The forest was quiet but for the splashing of the water, bird songs and the rustle of branches. They hadn’t been there long when Isabel heard a new sound. Hoofbeats and muffled voices. She urged her horse closer to the road, and easily heard the riders’ conversation.

“What makes you think she came this way?” a man asked.

A deeper voice answered, “Merely a guess. It seemed as good a place as any to look, but I’m thwarted again.”

“Let’s turn back, we can look for her tomorrow.”

“I’m sitting for the portrait tomorrow.”

Isabel’s pulse quickened as she recognized the deeper voice. Robert Claremont. So he’d been looking for her. Why hadn’t he come to the house? She started back toward the stream, but suddenly reason left her and she guided her horse through the trees, emerging just as Robert and his companion rounded the bend going in the opposite direction. They hadn’t seen her.

Isabel paused for a moment, thinking what to do. Go back home and hope he came to the house soon? Or seek him out for herself? Her reckless side won. Spurring her horse to a gallop, she chased after them. Robert turned in his saddle and Isabel was delighted with the look of shock on his face as she sped past him and who she could now see was Mr. Kensington.

Author Bio and Links

Kate grew up in a woodsy New England town where summer days at the lake seemed to last forever. She read her first historical romance at age eleven when a teacher challenged her to find a book in the library written by an author she’d never heard of. Thus began a life-long love of love stories.

After graduating from college with an art degree she settled in the Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides with her family.

Kate wrote her first romance when she was sixteen, then set her pen down for years until another story floated into her head out of the clear blue sky. She jotted it down, just for fun, but soon it took on a life of its own.

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Giveaway

Kate Ellington will be awarding a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Kate on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome back Wild Rose Press author Alana Lorens. Today, Alana shares her creative journey and her new release, Cruel Charade.

Here’s Alana

I knew I would be an author from the time I was eight years old.

My first story was a more journalistic-leaning adventure called, “My Cat Moonbeam Caught and Ate a Rabbit.” Apparently in gory, step by step detail. I don’t have a copy of it, but I do remember my mother carrying on about it at great length. She even told my teacher, who made me read it to the whole class.

Jump forward five years, and I am all of 14 and my writing tastes graduated from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (one of my all-time favorite books) and The Island of the Blue Dolphins to romantic suspense. I read everything by Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Jane Aiken Hodge, and Dorothy Eden. Back in those days, romantic suspense was more about the mystery and danger than it was about sex. I knew in my heart I could write stories like this, and I wrote my first, a terribly Gothic time travel story about a young woman who enters an old house and is mysteriously transported back a hundred years, becomes the governess, falls in love with the young master of the house…you know. Pretty formula stuff. I DO have a copy of that. Oh boy. What the heck? I was 14.

Sure this was the next great thing, I packed it up (yes, we still sent snail mail submissions then) and mailed it to the Romance Editor at Doubleday. Looking back on that now, I’m flabbergasted. What’s even more amazing is that in 1970, a 14-year-old wannabe author without an agent could be read by a Doubleday editor and receive a polite and encouraging rejection letter, personally written and signed by said editor.

I wrote another novel in high school, and was mentored with one as a senior thesis in college. I got the chance to be a newspaper reporter in south Florida, which gave me a solid writing base over the several years I worked there. I wrote a number of articles and short stories that sold in bits and pieces. I took a break and went to law school, and in 1999 I managed to sell a self-help divorce recovery book to Impact Publishers in California.

But it wasn’t until 2009, when I was over 50, that I found a publisher for my novel-length fiction. As Lyndi Alexander (since I was still practicing law under my own name!) I sold THE ELF QUEEN. The urban fantasy went on into four more books in the series, as well as another sci-fi series and more—16 more.

When I decided to write romance and suspense, I picked the name Alana Lorens. I’ve now got a half- dozen novels under that name, including historical romance, romantic suspense and even a supernatural thriller!

CRUEL CHARADE combines a lot of these pieces of my history all in one. Bet Lenard is a lawyer practicing in Miami, as I did. She is fighting a mysterious disease that causes her chronic pain, as I have. Fortunately, I got my answers because it happened 20 years later. Back in 1996, the answers weren’t there yet. But neither of those is her worst problem right now. Someone wants her dead.

Excerpt

“Did you tell the detectives what Rich said?”

“No. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he confesses. In full.”

She stayed only an hour, distracted by the creeping pain. Maybe Mela was right. I should recuperate at home. I’ve got more control over my work environment there. She gave Mela the satisfaction of knowing she’d been right, then took her laptop and a briefcase of mail and case files home with her.

At home, she marched swiftly to the door and let herself in, locking up behind her. A quick trip to change into a loose caftan necessitated washing her face and changing the bandages yet again. She stared at the angry red blisters with a mixture of disgust and rage. Who were those people and how dare they? How dare they?

Too uncomfortable and anxious to work, she debated calling Hyacinth, but settled for a thorough meditation with the Five Things. A Vicodin dialed back her pain, and a shot of Jameson’s topped it off. Instead of working, she curled up in her living room chair and watched a TV rerun of Heathers.

She’d always identified with Veronica. Part of the wrestling cheerleader squad, Bet had played the game just long enough to establish it on her high school resume, then she’d left the group. These days, I’d just rip the rug out from under those mean girls. She’d purposely chosen a small school, Muskingum College, and joined a sorority dedicated to serving others rather than being popular.

Bad enough still having to play games as an adult. At least now, I have weapons of my own.

Her first weapon for the evening was a spritz of Joy, by Jean Patou, a perfume Rich had bought her years before. The combination of jasmine and rose was once a favorite of Jackie Kennedy; it certainly was Rich’s favorite, too.

Her second weapon was a short maize-and-navy dress with wide diagonal stripes, a real eyecatcher. If Rich thought he’d shove Bet under the rug—or perhaps the bus?—he had another think coming.

Her most valuable weapon would be the small recorder she slipped into her clutch before she left. If she had the chance to get information that could finally give her the upper hand over Rich, she intended to grab it.

Maybe I’m a Heather after all…

Author Bio

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter/editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida, after working as a server, a pizza maker, and a floral designer. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

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I’m happy to welcome author Ann M. Trader. Today, Ann shares her new release, Truth and Dare.

Blurb

A bright and talented environmental engineer, Goldie Vreeland understands facts and figures, but Max Corda, her secret office obsession, remains a puzzle. On the eve of a business trip to a coastal island, fate intervenes, pairing her with her sexy crush. As she thinks about sharing the same space with Max for a week, her world veers dangerously off course.

Fueled by success as engineer and president of his family’s firm, recently divorced Max needs to jumpstart his life. When his father unexpectedly assigns him to Goldie’s project, his closely guarded attraction to her comes front and center. Thoughts of spending a week alone with this beautiful intelligent woman make his internal compass glitch.

Romance stirs with the island breeze, so simple when they’re hundreds of miles away from normal. But as Goldie and Max return to reality, will they discover real love is more than a game?

Excerpt

A trio of knocks interrupted my thoughts, and I glanced at my watch. Right on time. My shoes—timeless black Italian leather pumps worth every dollar I doled out on them—clicked on the parquet tile as I approached the door…and opened it to him.

Max’s muscular frame filled the doorway, a mesmerizing vision, sexy as hell and completely effortless on his part. He had the lean, sculpted torso and long legs of a runway model, but none of the cushy edges. I leaned on the door, imagining his physique was every tailored suit’s dream. Every woman’s, too. I swallowed a tiny sigh, convinced God must’ve cashed in all His chips when He created Max Corda.

I straightened, holding my purse in my hands. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Max said, smiling.

I caught myself gazing at his lips a little too long, and looked away, praying I wasn’t wearing a blush to match my heated cheeks.

“You look lovely.” He crossed his arms, the move accentuating the breadth of his chest. “I know we’re here on business.” His gaze skimmed up and down my body. “But when you come to the door looking like this, Shembery’s integrated water management strategies are the last thing on my mind.”

My breath hitched, awestruck his thoughts mirrored mine. I’d studied Max to distraction for seventeen weeks, four days—no, make that three—and I liked him. Very much.

Author Bio and Links

I enjoy spending time with my family and exploring recipes on the lighter side of southern comfort foods. I’m a member of Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, and I love relaxing on my back porch to read and write. These days I take walks around my neighborhood, but when I was sixteen, I hiked the Grand Canyon with a group of friends. I love watching television dramas (in no special order): Palm Royale, The Buccaneers, The Bear, Mary and George, Emily in Paris, Outlander, Shrinking, Shogun, Bridgerton, Outer Banks, Stranger Things, The Crown, and Peaky Blinders and reading a great romance book.

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Giveaway

Ann M. Trader will award a randomly drawn winner a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

Follow Ann on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome author Aly Mennuti. Today, Aly shares her new release, Broken Fortune.

Blurb

Elizabeth Sunderland—a forty-three-year-old wife and mother of two teenagers—is the oldest of five children in a blended family that never quite blended. The only thing that has held them together is the iron will of their wealthy parents: Benjamin Sunderland, a venture capitalist, and Kate Bernard, a partner of a hedge fund. Together, Benjamin and Kate create and rule over a Manhattan dynasty of which their children each bear their own unique scars.

Elizabeth has been trying to keep the family together since she was ten years old, hoping to convince everyone they have more in common than just their fortune. This stance will be put to the ultimate test when Kate dies with one final request: that the family travel together to the island of St. John and spread her ashes in the ocean. However, Kate’s plan to fix the family will involve more than just a family trip to the sea.

As the hidden secrets and quiet betrayals built up over thirty years begin to ripple and crash like the ocean surrounding the sinking family, Elizabeth not only faces each of her sibling’s personal inflection points—moments that could lead to reconciliation or ruin—but she has to face her own demons that have laid dormant. What happens next will shock Elizabeth into recognizing a reality she had no idea existed.

Excerpt

“How much money did you get?” Paul drops in, trying not to seem as outright aggressive as my other siblings but still trying to ferret out the information.

“It was nothing,” I say, trying to shut this conversation down.

“Oh, it wasn’t nothing,” Benjamin says. “It was over five million dollars.”

Everyone at the table looks ready to either spill their drink, fall off their chair, or turn me upside down to try and shake the five million out of my pockets.

“Can I have some?” Winnie says, shifting her attention for the first time this evening from my father to me.

“No,” Benjamin says sternly to Winnie. “Your mother is giving that back.”

“What about,” Paul says, daring to get between Benjamin and his money, “if you give us all five million dollars, so Lizzie doesn’t feel so alone. I mean…I’m sure my mother left something for all of us and Lizzie’s just came through first.”

“No,” Benjamin says. “Lizzie won’t feel alone when I have it back. Because none of you are getting any extra money. Everything that was Kate’s is now mine. That’s what we decided. And upon my death—which should be noted, won’t be happening anytime soon—you will all receive the entire inheritance split into five.”

“Wait,” Paul says, clearly upset. “Wait. She’s our mother. Mine. I’m her son. I mean, no offense to your kids Benjamin, but me…and Julian, we should get something now. Not have to wait until you die. You’re not my father.”

Paul’s words visibly cut through Benjamin, like an unexpected knife in the back. Even I can’t help but wince on his behalf—considering he’s spent the last thirty-three years trying to convince Paul he’s a reasonable, viable father. Meanwhile, he’s made not one corresponding overture in my direction, relegating me to the status of just an afterthought that will always linger…

Author Bio and Links

Aly Mennuti has always had two passions: philanthropy and literature. She satisfied one of those by being an executive at an international nonprofit consulting firm and has helped a diverse range of high-profile clients reach their philanthropic goals.

However, she’s always had a desire to express herself creatively and carve out her own role as a writer in a writing family. Finally, upon turning 40 (and with two children hitting their teens and deciding Mom is really uncool and not needed to hang out with anymore) she had the time and head space, to tell her first story.

Broken Fortune is her second novel. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Nicholas Mennuti, a novelist and screenwriter and their two children, Charlie and Lilly.

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Giveaway

Aly Mennuti will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Aly on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.